Oldest Lana/Lizzy song (Not including SIRENS)

[cartoon eyes 2,540]

Title says it all.

[Mileena 2,691]

there's been some speculation about this. apparently it's axl rose husband, but who knows anymore?

[Sitar 22,210]

Money Hunny or Fordham Road, I believe.

[smoledman 200]

I'm listening to Fordham Road on repeat all night. It's like a long lost Jewel song.

[Lana Del Rey 752]

Axl Rose Husband was recorded when she was 16.

(If I'm good at maths that is 2001 or even 2000 considering it was 11 months ago she commented that?)

[evilentity 13,343]

Axl Rose Husband was recorded when she was 16.

(If I'm good at maths that is 2001 or even 2000 considering it was 11 months ago she commented that?)

Lana's not exactly a reliable source in matters concerning her age...

[ednafrau 836]

Lana's not exactly a reliable source in matters concerning her age...

 

THIS. sometimes i don't know if she's lying, or just (rightfully) vague or perhaps a bit of a spaz regarding dates and stuff (this is the least likely option, but i have a couple of friends who basically use me as their biographer, because they can't remember exact years for the life of them, if not for me they'd just say 5 or 10 years ago or something that was 3 years ago or 7 years ago )

in my opinion, i definitely don't think "axl rose husband" is her oldest song, in fact, as we've discussed in LANALYSIS, it seems to be about mike m., plus add to that the fact that it was posted in her sparkle jump rope queen myspace, which could indicate it is more recent (2008/2009?). we obviously can't know for certain, but my vote goes for "fordham road"

[lola 6,640]

Didn't she say she started making music when she was 18, moved to NYC and started performing?

[Madrigal 2,616]

I firmly believe it's "Money Hunny," perhaps with "Fordham Road" a follow-up.

[ednafrau 836]

I firmly believe it's "Money Hunny," perhaps with "Fordham Road" a follow-up.

 

i was thinking it was the other way around, fordham then money hunny, but if you think the order is reversed, madrigal, then i'm with you!

[SissyRëyLDRsparkjumprope 63]

I'd say Axl rose husband. Maybe Money Hunny. Her early songs were played with a guitar in the background.

 

But maybe we'll never know. She's written so many songs.. there's probably hundreds that we'll never know of.

[Sitar 22,210]

Axl Rose Husband and Elvis are way advanced compared to Sirens, so I don't think it's likely that they were recorded before that album.

[Arzi 1,982]

I don't know why you keep thinking that Axl Rose Husband and Elvis are from 2008, they're from 2002 or so and definitely pre-date Sirens

[Madrigal 2,616]

I don't know why you keep thinking that Axl Rose Husband and Elvis are from 2008, they're from 2002 or so and definitely pre-date Sirens

Because Lana is confused about her own age, and we naturally assume some aspects of their lyrics to force them to be younger.

[Monicker 3,035]

Axl Rose Husband and Elvis are way advanced compared to Sirens, so I don't think it's likely that they were recorded before that album.

 

You crazy, boy. Other way around, by a long shot. Sirens is the peak of her guitar playing, in terms of technical abilities.

 

Lana's not exactly a reliable source in matters concerning her age...

 

Yeah, by one year. Don't think there's a need to be so pedantic when it comes to the age thing. If she said she recorded something when she was 16 or 17, then okay, give or take a year, no big deal. It's not as if she is absurdly trying to pass for many years younger.

 

My educated guess, based on guitar playing and her voice, is that Axl Rose Husband and Elvis are among the earliest recordings. They were undoubtedly recorded during the same period and were recorded on the internal mic of her laptop whereas Money Hunny and Fordham Road weren't. Who knows what that means. Did she start off recording with the internal mic of her laptop and eventually upgrade her equipment as "logic" might dictate? Or did she have decent equipment at first and, say, she had to sell it, or she got rid of it for whatever reason and then started recording again but took a step down in equipment? Maybe she had to sell her microphone for drug money? Maybe she moved and got rid off all her possessions. Did she borrow equipment from friends at one point or another? Did one of her friends record her with their own equipment, as is a common thing to do? Who knows. I don't think there's anything we can really extract from this because anything could have happened in any chronological order. Sirens is a studio recording though, that much we know. She is likely to have amassed some home recordings prior to going into a studio for the first time, though that, of course, is not a set in stone rule. I believe, stylistically, Fordham Road is closer to the period of Sirens.

 

So my educated guess based on observation and the little that we do know is, chronologically:

 

Axl Rose Husband

Elvis

Money Hunny

Fordham Road

Sirens

 

I'm just using the songs that have been mentioned in this thread, i don't have the energy right now to recall other possible contenders.

 

EDIT: Then again, take the example of John Frusciante. If you didn't know any facts about him and only had his solo recordings to go by to try to piece together information, there was a time when his guitar playing actually worsened and became noticeably simpler because he was strung out on heroin while recording AND the equipment he was using at that point was a step down because he had either gotten rid of all his shit or lost it or it was stolen or he had sold it for drug money, etc. Again, "logic" would dictate that the less advanced playing and more primitive recording equipment would be an indicator of these recordings preceding the stuff that exhibits the more advanced playing and better sound quality, when that actually isn't the case.

[evilentity 13,343]

Yeah, by one year. Don't think there's a need to be so pedantic when it comes to the age thing. If she said she recorded something when she was 16 or 17, then okay, give or take a year, no big deal. It's not as if she is absurdly trying to pass for many years younger.

It's not just her claim that she's 26. I remember her claim to have written "Axl Rose Husband" and "Elvis" when she was 16 or 17 to have been met with a lot of skepticism when it came up on LDR.FM, independent of the age thing. She's also claimed that "Pawn Shop Blues" was the first song she ever wrote, that "Yayo" is 7 years old, and that she toured outside the US for a period of 3 years. I just think any time she talks about time frames it should be taken with a huge heaping helping of salt.

[Monicker 3,035]

Taken with some small to large portion of salt, yes, but also:

 

1. I don't recall the issue on .fm over her claim to have written Axl and Elvis at 16/17. Who was skeptical and why? Does the fact that the claim was met with skepticism on the old forum necessarily mean anything on its own?

 

2. What's the context of PSB being the first song she wrote? Who did she say that to? I think sometimes we have to consider the audience, that is, who she is talking/responding to. She probably treats questions differently depending on who is asking. I don't mean to imply that she lies to certain people and not to others, but that maybe the picture she paints for certain people is a little less complete because they are not as knowledgeable on the subject and so it wouldn't affect them as much to give them incomplete answers or answers that require less thought and backstory. Also, what if she wrote the PSB lyrics first and then recorded the demo years later, and that's what she means?

 

3. Yayo could have been written years before any demo was recorded. Or how do we know that one of the two Yayo demos we have don't date to seven years ago? Or how do we know there aren't other Yayo demos that we don't have, and have never even heard of, that date back to seven years ago? Or what if--because few people know the timeline of their own life with precise accuracy--that she misremembered and that it was really six years, not seven? Does the one year discrepancy totally disqualify her word? Let's keep in mind that it is very common for artists to have songs around for years, sometimes even DECADES, before doing something definitive with them, and in that time the song could morph in so many ways and be demoed many times or not demoed at all, etc.

 

4. The touring outside the US for a period of three years...are you referring to the Ride monologue or something else? If it's the monologue from the video, that is not to be taken as fact.

[Sitar 22,210]

So my educated guess based on observation and the little that we do know is, chronologically:

 

Axl Rose Husband

Elvis

Money Hunny

Fordham Road

Sirens

 

I'm just using the songs that have been mentioned in this thread, i don't have the energy right now to recall other possible contenders.

 

How about 1949 or You're Gonna Love Me, which both have similar quality to Elvis and ARH? I feel almost certain that those were identified to be from 2008 from the source of the leaks--that is, calendargirl. Those songs also ended up on her MySpace, what, around 2009? That seems odd.

 

I'll also say that her singing style is very different from Sirens to those two songs, and if we are to believe anything she's saying, she lowered her voice as the years went on. Sirens is very white-bread in its vocals, whereas she rocks the fake country accent in Elvis and a deep voice in ARH.

[evilentity 13,343]

 

Taken with some small to large portion of salt, yes, but also:

 

1. I don't recall the issue on .fm over her claim to have written Axl and Elvis at 16/17. Who was skeptical and why? Does the fact that the claim was met with skepticism on the old forum necessarily mean anything on its own?

 

2. What's the context of PSB being the first song she wrote? Who did she say that to? I think sometimes we have to consider the audience, that is, who she is talking/responding to. She probably treats questions differently depending on who is asking. I don't mean to imply that she lies to certain people and not to others, but that maybe the picture she paints for certain people is a little less complete because they are not as knowledgeable on the subject and so it wouldn't affect them as much to give them incomplete answers or answers that require less thought and backstory. Also, what if she wrote the PSB lyrics first and then recorded the demo years later, and that's what she means?

 

3. Yayo could have been written years before any demo was recorded. Or how do we know that one of the two Yayo demos we have don't date to seven years ago? Or how do we know there aren't other Yayo demos that we don't have, and have never even heard of, that date back to seven years ago? Or what if--because few people know the timeline of their own life with precise accuracy--that she misremembered and that it was really six years, not seven? Does the one year discrepancy totally disqualify her word? Let's keep in mind that it is very common for artists to have songs around for years, sometimes even DECADES, before doing something definitive with them, and in that time the song could morph in so many ways and be demoed many times or not demoed at all, etc.

 

4. The touring outside the US for a period of three years...are you referring to the Ride monologue or something else? If it's the monologue from the video, that is not to be taken as fact.

 

 

1. Some of the skepticism was from the combination of her saying those were from when she was 16-17 and also saying PSB was the first song she wrote. And as Sitar pointed out, Elvis and ARH didn't show up on MySpace until later. (However, I think the often-used argument "CG said such and such" is weak. Even generally reliable sources need receipts people!) Some of my skepticism also comes from the lyrical content, which I freely admit I tend to over-emphasize in general, but I think you don't pay enough attention to it, Mo. ARH strikes me as something she wrote after moving to the NYC area. I'll compare them ~sonically~ to some of her other early rough demos when I get a chance though.

 

2. I'm having trouble finding where she said PSB was the first song she wrote right now, but I remember it being discussed on LDR.FM in conjunction with how old she said she was when she wrote Elvis and ARH. I think Trash Magic referred to it on SIN once and I remember discussing it with Maru as well. Can one of you help me out?

 

3. Her unease playing "Yayo" at the Union Pool show suggests to me it was likely new in 2007, 5 years ago. I think it's likely the "sultry song" she played at the 2008 WLSC, but it's also possible "Yayo" was the "new song" which "clearly wasn't as polished as 'Pawn Shop Blues'" that she "took a risk playing" at the 2006 WLSC Finals. But this reminds me... I remember Bob Leone saying somewhere (on Facebook maybe?) he remembers the first time Lizzy played "Yayo" for him (in her apartment, I think). And in this article he describes her playing songs for him two weeks after they met at the Bitter End on January 31, 2006. So maybe that was when she played him "Yayo" and it really could be 7 years old...

 

4. I'm not just referring to the "Ride" monologue. She repeated it in this interview.

 

I may not be right about all of these, but these were just a few possible examples I could think of off the top of my head of numerous instances I've seen where she can't be relied upon for an accurate timeline. (While I was looking up stuff for this I stumbled across another possible one... in 2010, she claimed her name change "came from a series of managers and lawyers over the last 5 years who wanted a name that they thought better fit the sound of the music". What? Did that stuff really start that soon? And then there's all the dates she's mentioned in interviews about when different things would supposedly be released... the mixtape and AKA re-release that never occurred, when music videos were supposed to drop, etc.) Aside from the age thing, I'm not even suggesting she deliberately misleads. As you say, she may give simplified versions, or misremember things. Nevertheless, the result is the same: Her saying when something happened or will happen ain't enough receipts for me.

[Trash Magic 28,373]

I will never believe that Axl Rose husband is from 2002. Ever

 

Her voice is so different there to any track on Sirnes, and Axl was uploaded to MySpace in 2008... White Pontiac heaven was 2007